Will Work For Food: Your Labor Day Food Festival Weekend

By Amy Scattergood Thu., Sep. 2 2010 at 1:30 PM

Good thing that Labor Day weekend traditionally marks the end of wearing white -- although here in Los Angeles, many restaurants are lucky if diners wear pants, white or otherwise -- as this holiday weekend has turned into one giant food festival. Between all the food trucks, food demos, cooking competitions and pie contests, you should probably just wear a bib.

Taste of Beverly Hills starts today and runs through Sunday. The L.A. County Fair begins this Saturday and runs for the next month. And this weekend marks the first big food event from the Los Angeles Times, when their Celebration of Food & Wine kicks off Sunday. Taking place at the Paramount Studios backlot, the Times' festival features panels and demonstrations by an impressive number of local chefs, including a cooking demo from Suzanne Goin (Lucques, AOC) and Mark Peel (Campanile, Tar Pit); a discussion with Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo (Animal) and Michael Voltaggio (Top Chef, etc.); and a panel on Latin cuisine with John Sedlar (Rivera), Jimmy Shaw (Loteria Grill) and Ricardo Zarate (Mo-Chica), moderated by the LAT's food section editor Russ Parsons. Plus, of course, a whole convoy of food trucks. Check the respective websites for dates and times and ticket information. Bib not included.